Promiscuity on the rise following naughty Nineties

A CHANGE in attitudes towards sex over the past 10 years has led to a rise in promiscuity, an increase in the use of prostitutes and a surge in sexually-transmitted diseases among young people.

The number of men who have paid for sex in the past five years has more than doubled, from one in 48 in 1990 to one in 23 last year. For men in London the figure is one in 11, according to a study of sexual behaviour in Britain published today.

It finds that Britons increasingly prefer to have a number of sexual relationships rather than marry, with one in 12 men and one in 28 women saying that they have slept with more than 10 different people in the past five years.

For people aged 25 to 34, more than four in 10 men and one in five women say that they have had sex with more than 10 different people in their lifetime, says the second National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles, which questioned 11,161 people aged 16 to 44.

For many, staying faithful is not important. One in seven men and one in 11 women say they have had overlapping sexual relationships in the past year. Despite the shedding of Britain's sexual inhibitions, the report shows that people, on average, have sex only once a week.

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People nowadays are more willing to use condoms, according to the £1.4 million report, published in The Lancet. It find that one in four men and one in six women use condoms consistently. There has been a rise, however, in the number of people who have slept with more than two different partners in the past year, but who did not use condoms consistently.

The increase in risky sexual behaviour is borne out by the latest figures from the Public Health Laboratory Service, which show a doubling of the incidence of gonorrhoea and chlamydia between 1995 and 2000. Cases of gonorrhoea rose from 10,204 to 20,663, while diagnoses of chlamydia increased from 30,877 to 64,000. The biggest rise was among women aged 16 to 19. It is estimated that one in 11 sexually-active young women may have chlamydia, which can lead to infertility if untreated.

Anne Johnson, a professor of infectious disease epidemiology at University College London, who led the research on general sexual behaviour in Britain, said the findings showed that the country had become a more tolerant and open society in terms of sex. She disclosed that the number of women who reported ever having a homosexual encounter almost tripled in a decade, from one in 56 in 1990 to one in 20 last year. For men, it rose from one in 28 to one in 19.

Prof Johnson said: "People reported more sexual partners, homosexual experience, contact with prostitutes and condom use than they did 10 years ago. There has been substantial changes in our views on sex in the last 10 years. We've become less censorious about one-night stands, but we have become more intolerant of sex outside a committed relationship."

The report also raises concerns over the number of teenagers having underage sex. It discloses that one in four girls and almost one in three young men aged 16 to 19 lost their virginity before the age of 16, the legal age of consent. For women aged 40 to 44, almost one in seven say that they were under 16 when they first had sex, while for men in this age bracket it is just over one in four.

Anne Weyman, the chief executive of the Family Planning Association, said the rise in the use of condoms showed that the safe sex message was working.

Lord Hunt, the health minister, said: "The continued rise in diagnoses in HIV and other sexually-transmitted infections leaves us no room for complacency."